Mark McMenamin Scientist
Mark A. S. McMenamin is an American paleontologist and professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College. He has made innovative contributions to the field of paleontology, particularly the Ediacaran biota.McMenamin has articulated novel but not widely accepted solutions to challenging problems associated with study of the history of life and the history of geographic exploration. His research has been criticized by some paleontologists as being narrative rather than evidence driven.He is the author of several books, most recently The Garden of Ediacara: Discovering the Earliest Complex Life one of the only popular accounts of research on the Ediacaran biota, and Science 101: Geology. He is credited with co-naming several geological formations in Mexico, describing several new fossil genera and species, and naming the Precambrian supercontinent Rodinia. The Cambrian archeocyathid species Markocyathus clementensis was named in his honor in 1989.